November 01, 2006

Kerry's Problem - The 'Fight Club' Dems

Why couldn't the Massachusetts senator have climbed out of the hole he
fell into by just apologizing for saying something stupid, rather than
getting out a shovel and digging?

Well, he can't - as a Fight Club Democrat, Kerry has embraced the message of the Nutroots as to how to deal with any and every attack- "Never give in. Never surrender!".

This approach does not leave one a lot of latitude for picking one's battlefields, and produces the ridiculous result seen here - Kerry defending his botched joke, blaming his listeners for responding to exactly what he said and blasting them for failing to grasp the subtle nuance of what he meant to say, but didn't.

And yet the Great and Powerful Kos approves! Mission accomplished, Tall One - the Nutroots luv ya! Fight, fight, fight!

Let me continue with Howard Kurtz:

There isn't anybody, including in the Bush administration, who believes
that Kerry meant to insult the soldiers in Iraq with his clumsy joke
that has given the Republicans a big fat target after months on the
defensive. But the words he uttered, in his clumsy fashion, were
insulting, and he should have moved quickly to limit the damage.

I respectfully disagree as to what people may have believed, especially prior to the release of the director's cut of Kerry's intended "joke". That means I respectfully disagree with LaShawn Barber as well.

I'll grant that I did not believe that Kerry's quip was well-considered. But given his personal history with the Winter Soldier testimony, as well as for reasons cited here under "FROM HOTLINE", I can't say it was clear to me that Kerry was not accidentally revealing a secret he would prefer to carry quietly in his heart, to wit, enlisting is for losers.

Let's put it another way - how do you ask a man to be the last man to enlist for a mistake? Is it really implausible that Republicans might believe that Democrats such as Kerry secretly believe that enlisting in order to go off and serve in Bush's wrong and irrelevant war is a bad choice? Sure, I would not expect Kerry to say so, but we are talking about John Kerry here - who knows what toads might hop out of his mouth from one moment to the next?

And our Secret Sources have already gotten a look at Kerry's next scripted quip:

'They all laughed when I said I wanted to be a comedian. They're not laughing now.'

UNRELENTING: How do you ask a man to be the last man to apologize for his mistake? Kerry finally states the obvious:

As a combat veteran, I want to make it clear to anyone in uniform
and to their loved ones: my poorly stated joke at a rally was not
about, and never intended to refer to any troop.

I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted to wrongly
imply anything negative about those in uniform, and I personally
apologize to any service member, family member, or American who was
offended.

It is clear the Republican Party would rather talk about anything
but their failed security policy. I don’t want my verbal slip to be a
diversion from the real issues. I will continue to fight for a change
of course to provide real security for our country, and a winning
strategy for our troops.

I remain unconvinced that his spoken words were "misinterpreted" but whatever.

HE WAS FOR MORE TROOPS BEFORE HE WAS AGAINST IT: John Kerry displays his well-trained Yale intellect with Don Imus as he grapples with the correct troop level in Iraq:

KERRY: These guys have failed America. The people who owe an apology are
people like Donald Rumsfeld, who didn’t send enough troops, who didn’t
listen to the generals, who has made every mistake in the book.

...John McCain has been a cheerleader for a policy that is incorrect. John
McCain says we ought to send another 100,000 troops over there. First
of all, we don’t have another 100,000 troops. Secondly, if you send
them over there, it’s going to do exactly what’s already happened,
which is attract more terrorists and more jihadists. Our own generals
are telling us that it’s the numbers of troops that are the problem.

Huh? I am not smart enough to figure that out... guess I ought to enlist.

“You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in [fill in the blank].”

Iraq This option seems to have two interpretations: 1) you end up in the military and are sent to Iraq or 2) you become the POTUS and make bad decisions. Either way, the real problem here is not just that John Kerry said this poorly delivered joke, but that he even ever thought that it was funny. The first case shows disrespect for the military, a position that John Kerry himself was part of, and the seconds case shows disrespect for the office of POTUS, a position that John Kerry seems to want. Both seem to show that John Kerry hates himself or at least what he has been and wants to become.

saying it wasn't deliberate, but you should apologize anyway
To start, John Kerry should look into a mirror and apologize to himself for being such a sorry SOB.

Walmart This would have been the PC option or at least will fly well in Democratic circles.

Did anyone hear Susanne Malvo on CNN slipping up saying that "one can HOPE..er..think this might go away"? McCaffrey's lamenting?

Or former Moynihan (D) Cheif of StaffTim Russert complaining that Democrats lost two news cycles that could've been used to propagate DNC talking points?

The media bobbleheads are twisting like pretzels over this, because Kerry threw a monkey wrench into their planned final week anti-GOP blitz. Poor widdle babies. They media chose to back the Kerry 2004 horse, and now they're sinking in its manure.

who knows what toads might hop out of his mouth from one moment to the next?

::grin::

as hard as you jump Kerry's ass to speak better

Well now I'm confused. Here I've been under the impression it was your side that claimed Bush couldn't speak better. I didn't know you also thought Kerry couldn't speak better too. Amazing what you find out when Kerry opens his mouth and toads hop out.

He didn't apologize because it is exactly what he meant, it is consistent with his entire political career, and he can't understand why real people find it offensive. He's been told it is a disaster, so rather than facing up to his own out of touchness, he's having a narcissistic rage in which it's everyone else's fault.
Prick poseur pricked self.

Ya gotta love it--you know the dems are worrying because: (1) the nutroots think this was a good thing; and (2)every dem in a close race has either disinvited Lurch or dissed him. It is nice to know there are a few smart dems out there--and where did all the moonbats come from today? DU/KOS/Puffington? trying for damage control? Maroons all.

Fear the backlash,Rethugs,you're chortling over a comment taken out of context on purpose.
Sort of like the intelligence that got us in this quagmire to begin with.
Can't you guys interpret anything right.

The Democrats problem now is they recurited so many fake conservatives to run in right leaning districts. They have to take Kerry to the woodshed at least until the media can pull their nuts out of the fire with another made up scandal.

Day after day we set here and watch the leftists send their messages to America's enemies, just like they did in Vietnam: Just hold on, as soon as Democrats win the elections, you'll be safe. The funding will be cut, you can kill anyone who dared dream of freedom, who thought democracy could work, who dared support America, and it'll be just like Vietnam. America's leftists
couldn't care less about Iraq, they want to destroy America. Same leftists, different country, but the end goal is always the same.

Don: I did see what happened in Iraq yesterday. Now that Ramadan is over, the US casualty rate has dropped significantly for the past 5 days. Thank you for joining us in celebrating that! We pray that the low level continues.

A week before the midterms-and this is the issue you want to run on?! Posted by: Don | November
01, 2006 at 09:21 AM This is the issue. The left-elitist contempt for anything martial. This is the vile, despicable piece of s*** the dems last nominated to run for president, thus at least nominally the head of the party. That should speak volumes to everyone. His refusal to apologize to his brothers and sisters in arms exposes him as incredibly politically stupid, too.

*I do not believe that Kerry either mis-spoke or that his remarks were directed at Bush and not American soldiers.*

Why? Review the video. Immediately after Kerry finishes his lame quip there arises a series of nervous laughs and a number of people gasping in shock.

If Kerry really were trying to deliver a joke wouldn't the fact that people were gasping be an indication that he didn't come across as he had intended?

If Kerry really had directed this lame "joke" at President Bush, to an audience of liberal college students no less, wouldn't the fact that a number of people in the audience were gasping shock tell Kerry he did something wrong? Is this audience one to gasp at attacks on Bush? Didn't Kerry just spend several minutes prior to his infamous "joke" attacking Bush in a number of different ways? Did the audience gasp after each one?

...

There is nothing to support the assertion that Kerry was either telling a joke or targeting President Bush. What did happen was that Kerry spoke aloud what he really thought.

Party on folks - but the silver lining for us folks in the Democratic Party is the resurgence of democratic moderates like Ford, Tester, Casey and McCaskill. The democrats are moving to the center and it appears that the center is moving to the democrats. Kerry has capsized his own boat, and despite Appalled Moderate's "axis of coastal elites", a moderate democrat probably has the best chance at the Democratic nomination.

Hip Hip Hooray! :)

Stealing from AM again, I'm sure its "laugh out loud" good to have some fun in the form of that good ole Kerry piñata in light of the Central Command PowerPoint presentation and the Maliki order to "stand down" around Sadr City. For supporters of GWB's Excellent Adventure, those must really hurt.

I think Bush let Kerry off too easy at that rally in GA yesterday. He could have mentioned something more along the lines of "This wasn't Kerry's first or even second time trashing the troops, so it's hard to take him seriously when he asks us to believe we're misinterpreting his words." I think that could have given the story a little more bite and staying power, since pundits would have had to address the other instances at least peripherally, rather than be able to get away with trying to explain what Kerry really meant.

I see drudge's "Stuck in Irak" photo grew a bit. I suspect we're going to see that one again. And who knows, this story might have legs. (Especially if Kerry continues to refuse to apologize, whilst Dem Senate prospects call for him to do so.)

The democrats are moving to the center and it appears that the center is moving to the democrats.

Funny how that works. A moderate democrat is not much different than a moderate republican. A moderate democrat will not vote for impeachment. At least you have realized what the nuts in the left don't seem to get. They lose everytime a moderate is nominated and elected.

Kerry is going to wipe the Vets from one end of the country to the other, but he forgot exactly which vets.
One gets the idea that John Kerry is running his plan to take on the "Swift Vets for Truth" a bit early and pointed at the wrong target.

Don--at least you and I can agree that elections are fundamentally about voter confidence in candidates--thats a good thing. Now all we have to do is wait till the real poll is taken next Tuesday to find out who has confidence in whom. I plan to spend Tuesday evening nursing a bottle of Metaxa seven start and drinking (albeit very slowly) "goodbye charlies." For the unitiated, a Goodbye Charlie is a glass of metaxa neat with a lemon slice. Cheers

Maybe, but if Bush lumped Kerry's prior statements in with this one, Tony Snow wouldn't be spending as much time smacking down the media's excuses for Kerry today as reciting quotes to apoplectic lefty reporters about Ghengis Khan and troops terrorising Muslim women in their beds.

I think it's Bush's role to defend the troops against such attacks, and more effective when he personally does it.

I think JMHanes and Sue are onto something--this has the makings of a dark and stormy night thread---OK: why do republicans lose elections? Because Karl Rove was frogged marched out of the white house and languishes in jail for revealing Val's real job? oh wait......

The great Taranto (Best of the Web) slices and dices the Mass poseur and his media enablers with their "botched joke" fairy tale.

Here's a sample of his great column:
"Centipede Mouth
How many feet can John Kerry fit in that mouth of his? Here he is on "Imus in the Morning" today:

Kerry: These guys have failed America. The people who owe an apology are people like Donald Rumsfeld, who didn't send enough troops, who didn't listen to the generals, who has made every mistake in the book. . . .

Imus: . . . Senator John McCain, he seems to think--he seems to agree with the Bush administration about your comments. And you know him, obviously, better than I do, but I know him pretty well. And he probably knows what you meant, too.

Kerry: I'm sorry that John McCain has said what he said. John McCain's been a friend for a long time. But I have to tell you, I think John McCain is wrong about this.

John McCain has been a cheerleader for a policy that is incorrect. John McCain says we ought to send another 100,000 troops over there. First of all, we don't have another 100,000 troops. Secondly, if you send them over there, it's going to do exactly what's already happened, which is attract more terrorists and more jihadists. Our own generals are telling us that it's the numbers of troops that are the problem. "

No calling Don names, Sue, because he has to be the Official Dem Spokesman of the Day. How do I know? Just listened to another of their Official Ones on FOX say almost identical talking points. At the same time. Geesh...now they have synchronized their watches.

This Howard Kurtz crap is just another Dem MSM writing their own news. You can hear it from the WH press through all the MSM. They have written The Silence for this one on the front pages.

Or my fav....yahoo just puts it up as a back and forth yak yak between Bush & Kerry. Ain't it sweet?

Don: Still working on those links? Awesome. I'm still waiting on them.

I'll take the Santorum bait.

Bob Casey is ahead in the polls, and will likely win, because the election is in Pennsylvania and Bob Casey's name is Bob Casey. If you put Jesus Christ on the ballot Bob Casey would be 10 points ahead of the only son of God. That's how much the name Bob Casey means in Pennsylvania. "What has Christ done for me lately? Bob Casey is named Bob Casey."

Don just got the townhouse outhouse memo. It was a little delayed cuz even the townhousers thought Kerry would ultimately just say a small sorry and moveon ( so to speak). But does he sound convincing to any of you? Dont you hear the fear in his voice?, (and I can tell you he has wet himself too). This close and Kerry kicks over the candle and starts the great Chicago fire once again. Funny that.

Man I never realized before how well invectives and insults and even curse words really really beef up your argument. How can we win with an opponent who knows and is not afraid to use such superior and overwhelming tactics? Thanks Don for the education. Can I get a similar one at the DUmp or will I need a graduate course in pottymouth from the Great and Powerful Kos?

Don: I can't say they're the top news stories. I had not heard either one of them until you mentioned them. I guess I was foolish to ask you to post links to them. I should have just high fived you and say "Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaeeeeeaahhhhh, MICHIGAN, RHODE ISLAND, ARKANSAS, YEEEEEEEEEEAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

If Bob Casey Sr. was alive to run for Senate, I would vote for Bob Casey Sr. over Rick Santorum without a second thought.

Bob Casey Sr. is an icon in Pennsylvania history. A man and Governor who seemed to actually stand for something, even when others called him nuts and kept him from speaking at his own party's national convention.

Unfortunately for Bob Jr., I know that Rick Santorum is running against Bob Casey Jr., not Sr., so Rick will have my vote next week.

Honestly, Pennsylvania political history is quite funny as it comes to people with the name Bob Casey. There's a guy that ran, raised no money, did no campaigning, had no political experience, and he was elected over a guy that did all those things a candidate would do to try and win an election. His name was Bob Casey. He shared no relation to the Bob Casey Sr. that was governor of Pennsylvania.

Also, Ed Rendell, current Democrat governor of Pennsylvania won't campaign against Senator Santorum. Rendell is in his own campaign for re-election, but he so values Santorum's work for Pennsylvania in the US Senate that he will not campaign against him.

Here's mine: no president since FDR has seen his party hold the Congress through three successive elections after his initial election. In a 50-50 nation, it was a real tour de force for Bush to accomplish it in 2002 and 2004.

And here's where I take great solace, regardless of what happens Tuesday: George W. Bush will be president and commander-in-chief until Januar 20, 2009. Period. Paragraph.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31, 2006 – A planned increase in Iraqi security forces is a result of ongoing assessments of the situation in Iraq and will allow coalition forces to shift to more of a supporting role in that country, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said here today.

Click photo for screen-resolution image
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld escorts Estonian Defense Minister Jurgen Ligi through a cordon of honor guards and into the Pentagon, Oct. 31. The two defense leaders met to discuss a range of international issues of mutual interest. Photo by James M. Bowman '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.
Speaking after a meeting with Estonian Defense Minister Jurgen Ligi at the Pentagon, Rumsfeld said the plans for an increase in Iraqi forces are on his desk, and he expects the Iraqi government to announce the increase soon. The increase is based on recommendations from the Iraqi government and U.S. Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr., commander of Multinational Force Iraq.

“I’m very comfortable with the increases they’ve proposed and the accelerations in the achievement of some of their targets that they’ve proposed,” Rumsfeld said. “Now it’s simply a matter of our pressing forward and getting our portion of the funding from Congress and working to see that it’s executed.”

The numbers of Iraqi forces needed have changed several times because the Iraqi government has seen different leadership, and the United States is continually assessing the situation in Iraq and adjusting its recommendations, Rumsfeld said.

“The goal is to have the Iraqis have a number of security forces that are sufficiently capable, equipped and trained and effective that they can provide for the security for that country and support the government,” he said. “That’s the goal, and the sooner the better; we’ve said that all along.”

As Iraqi forces increase, coalition forces will move away from traditional missions, such as combat patrols, Rumsfeld said. Coalition forces will be used to provide critical combat support functions for the Iraqis and to train Iraqi forces until they develop their own support systems, he said.

The Iraqi government has a complex job in developing a democracy and ridding the country of sectarian strife, Rumsfeld noted, but the will of the people is clearly united.

“Twelve million people in Iraq voted, and clearly the overwhelming majority of people in Iraq want a peaceful Iraq,” he said.

So, there you have it, straight from Centcom. Devolving into Chaos, yep, sure nough-now- wait a minuge.......

Cheney said yesterday he was in no mood to exchange pleasantries with Leahy because Leahy had "challenged my integrity" by making charges of cronyism between Cheney and his former firm, Halliburton Co. Leahy on Monday had a conference call to kick off the Democratic National Committee's "Halliburton Week" focusing on Cheney, the company, "and the millions of dollars they've cost taxpayers," the party said.

Halliburton Co. has obtained 97% of their government contracts through direct competitive bid. The remaining contracts come indirectly from a special arrangement with the DOD for quick reaction contracts, which Halliburton Co. won the right to obtain through competitive bid.

And the laughs just keep on coming... Over at Hot Air, commenter RightWinged wrote to Kerry's office and got the following auto-reply:

Thank you very much for your comments. My statement yesterday – and the White House knows this full well — was a botched joke about the President and the President’s people, not about the troops.
This is the finest military that we’ve ever had. I have fought a lifetime on behalf of veterans. We have the finest young men and women serving us in the United States military that we’ve ever had, and I’m proud of that. As a combat veteran, I know the dedication, integrity, and commitment of American troops. I’ve lived it. Had George Bush and Dick Cheney lived it one minute of their comfortable lives in combat they would never have sent American troops to war without body armor or without a plan to win the peace and they wouldn’t be exploiting our troops today.

The White House’s attempt to distort my true statement is a remarkable testament to their failure in making America safe. It is a stunning statement about their willingness to reduce anything in America to raw politics. It is textbook Republican campaign tactic. Try to change the topic; try to make someone else the issue; not the policy, not their responsibility.

I apologize to no one for my criticism of the President and of his broken policy. If anyone owes our troops in the fields an apology, it is the President. It’s their willingness to distort, their willingness to mislead Americans, their willingness to exploit the troops, as they have so many times at backdrops, at so many speeches at which they have not told the American people the truth. It’s George Bush’s broken policy that kills and maims our heroes in Iraq every single day. His pathetic attempt to distort a botched joke about President Bush is a shameful effort to distract from a botched war.

President Bush owes an apology to our troops and to their families for mistake after mistake in Iraq. George Bush didn’t do his homework when he ran from sound intelligence about Iraq. Dick Cheney didn’t learn from the lessons of the Gulf War when he forgot his own advice not to get bogged down in Iraq. George Bush didn’t do his homework when he ignored General Shinseki’s advice to go to war with enough troops to maintain order. This entire administration didn’t learn anything about telling the truth; otherwise they would have leveled with the American people that we are stuck in a civil war in Iraq today.

Kerry now says everyone knows that no one who has been in combat would ever insult a veteran. If this won't pass for an insult, what will?

"They had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the country side of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country."

I was one of the folks who supposedly condoned this "at every level of command." I was insulted in 1971, and I remain insulted to this day. I take huge comfort in the fact that this hopeless, unprincipled gasbag has now written himself out of presidential politics, and even greater comfort in the fact that everyone knows it but Kerry himself. It will be great fun to watch the long, drawn-out implosion.

These are just as nutty as (VIPS)Intelligence Professionals for Sanity(Plame wind up), MoveON.Org(Plame coming out),etc. They all are over at Larry Johsnon's(Plame's farm pals) place. Fighting dems, like retired CIA operations officers, probably are using their service to go 'nuts'before retirement and claim benefits and awards for their service.

The crazy old aunt in the attic is that what Kerry stated is true. Make no mistake, Kerry did mean that the kids would get stuck in Iraq, unless they are able to navigate the educational system and "get comfortable jobs", as he stated.

It's true, the military is not populated by troops who come from middle and upper households and who have the sort of high school careers that get them into any college.

That doesn't mean they aren't intelligent kids and I happen to think our military is better off with the sort of troop it has.

Too bad it's taboo in this case to tell the truth and too bad Kerry and company are so relentlessly disingenous in their backtrackings.